Travel and Food

Germany’s newest Jewish museum closes after only 11 days

Frankfurt’s new Jewish Museum has been forced to close just 11 days after opening its doors due to government restrictions to stem a second wave of coronavirus infections across Germany and Europe.By Thursday evening, around 4,500 visitors had already taken the opportunity to visit the museum, a restored, expanded and redesigned version of a previous […]

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International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Travel and Food, USA

A Case of Mistaken Identity

Forty-seven years ago, I met a beautiful, twenty-year old flight attendant on an American Airlines airplane. I was a methods engineer for the airline. We hit it off and I invited the cute blonde lass home for dinner to meet my new bride. We had a lovely evening and thought we might see each other again in the future. We promised her she would not have to eat on a card table the next time. A month later, she was involved in a terrible tragedy. [Ira Spector]

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Lifestyles, Travel and Food

Enduring a Chubasco in Zihuatanejo

We watched from our cottage as rows of arched terra-cotta tiles slid off the steeply pitched roof of the open-air bar, sliding off in perfect sequence. First one row would go, and then when it was gone, the next row would begins its journey, like soldiers marching across a parade field. The raging bay-water, just a few feet away, hurled itself against the up-tilted rock outcrop, exploding like wet fireworks. Beyond the shore was an endless procession of peaks and troughs of white-capped waves that terrified my seasick soul. [Ira Spector]

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International, The World We Share, Travel and Food

Ancient Flood Stories and The Tower of Babel

There are over 500 collected non-Biblical flood stories from around the globe. The most famous is contained within the epic legend of Gilgamesh. He may have actually been a historical person, a wise Sumerian king on an adventure to win fame. He encountered Utnapishtim, the actual flood figure, who survived in a vessel, a Great Deluge that destroyed mankind. Gilgamesh learned the details from Utnapishtim. [Irv Jacobs, MD]

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International, Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Travel and Food

March of the Living plans worldwide Kristallnacht remembrance

The March of the Living organization has called upon Jewish communities and their friends around the world to keep their lights on at synagogues, Jewish institutions, and at homes in solemn remembrance of the night known as Kristallnacht on Nov. 9, 1938, when Nazis burned more than 1,400 synagogues and Jewish institutions in Germany. [Donald H. Harrison, Our Shtetl San Diego County]

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Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA

Death March to Volary

In January of 1945, Europe was just months away from Nazi surrender and the end of the Holocaust. But the prisoners had no way of knowing that. Thirteen hundred Jewish female prisoners were sent on a death march from the Shlesiersee camp to Volary, 800 km away in Czechoslovakia through knee-high snow, gnawing hunger, beatings, humiliation and murder. “We don’t have a destination,” one was told. “Our goal is that you will all die along the way.” [Eric George Tauber]

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Travel and Food

An unforgettable tour and cyclone in Borneo

Malaysia is a Muslim country. Don’t even try to enter with an Israeli passport!  A good percentage of the women wear a single colored scarf around their heads and necks for modesty. I don’t understand how they tolerate it in the Equatorial heat, but I became quite fond of the habit as a fashion statement. I liked how it framed the face, particularly the pretty ladies. The few wahines I saw draped floor to ceiling in black burkas I found mysterious, like covered statues at an unveiling. I figured they had to be ten degrees hotter than we infidels, unless they had battery-operated fans hidden inside the garb. [Ira Spector]

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International, Travel and Food

Police increase patrols following attack on rabbi

Other items in this column include: *Seacrest Village has newly reconfigured kosher kitchen *Jewish organizational news *In memoriam By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Police Department considers last Saturday’s attack on Rabbi Yonatan Halevy to be a “high priority incident” and as a result will increase patrols in the University City

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Donald H. Harrison, Lifestyles, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food, USA

Crypto Jews: Finding and Embracing their Roots

By Mimi Pollack L’Chaim San Diego Magazine SAN DIEGO — My late fiancé, an 8th generation New Mexican, used to tell me about the secret or crypto Jews of New Mexico. He was convinced that although he was raised Catholic, some of his ancestors were “Conversos” or secret Jews who came to New Mexico when

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Jewish History, Mimi Pollack, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food, USA

Two Cans of Orange Soda

By Ira Spector SAN DIEGO — The First Can One day, when I was sixteen, Helen, a family friend from Babylon, Long Island, drove me to a remote part of Jones Beach so I could go clam-digging with a pitchfork. She knew this was a good place. “There’s many eddy holes caused by the current

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Travel and Food